We don’t want to spoil the story, so you’ll have to watch the video and learn his incredibly creative way of connecting with customers that helped him sell more cars.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Hello… it’s Shaun and welcome to another Wednesday Workshop from DealerOn.
I think it’s safe to say that some of you have seen me speak or present at conferences, 20 groups or various events. If so, you may have heard my Hot Wheels story.
For those that don’t know my Hot Wheels story… it’s goes like this…
In 1998, I landed a job with Reynolds and Reynolds in downtown Seattle working on the Microsoft Carpoint team. At that time most dealers still didn’t have a website.
Wait… what??
Yeah… most dealers still didn’t’ have a website, but… they were buying leads and they were NOT cheap back then.
Part of my job was traveling to meet with and train dealers on internet sales processes. Basic lead handling of this new internet customer.
Well… many dealers were uncomfortable talking about the internet, websites and emerging new preferences of the new digital customer.
So I got this question A LOT… Have you ever sold a car in your life?
At that time my answer was honest, so my answer was no.
Fast forward a couple years and I found myself wanting the dealership car sales experience so much that I found a Chevy dealer that hired me to work nights and weekends.
I didn’t need this job, I was already managing a team of 11 people who managed websites for hundreds of dealers. I told no one except my wife and started selling cars because I wanted to be the best.
I wanted to understand every detail, feel every pain, experience and overcome every challenge and I never wanted a dealer principal, general manager or any other dealership employee to be concerned that I didn’t understand their business enough to help them.
My adventure selling cars not only allowed to answer yes to that old question, but it provided experiences I’ll never forget.
So let me tell you about Hot Wheels…
Guess who comes to the dealership with their parents in the evening and on weekends… KIDS. It didn’t take long for me to understand one of the greatest aspects of the retail car business… It’s a people business. And it’s true, people buy from people they like.
People love to buy, but hate to be sold.
So I was the guy that went up to every kid with a Hot Wheel and said… I don’t know if your mom or dad is getting a new car tonight, but you are.
You can imagine, this was met with huge smiles and it melted almost every tension wall allowing people to talk about their car needs comfortably.
Hot Wheels became my ice breaker, my friend maker and the best tool I ever found to let both parents and kids know that wanted to help them buy their next car and I wanted them to know they were buying it from someone that cared.
I’m not telling you to steal my idea, but hey – if you want to, that’s fine. The moral of the story is that you need to find a way to quickly connect with customers and break through walls – so oyu can sell more cars.
That’s all the time we have, so…
If you have comments or questions about this video… leave them down below and make sure to come back next week for another Wednesday Workshop from DealerOn.
